


Cooking Story, A

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-02-21
Updated: 2004-02-21
Packaged: 2019-05-30 12:57:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15097175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: A cooking story without the usual reference to.....





	Cooking Story, A

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**A Cooking Story**

**by:** Lifeasanamazon

**Character(s):** CJ/Toby   
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine at all.  
**Summary:** A cooking story without the usual reference to.....  
**Feedback:** Always appreciated.  
 **Spoiler:** none but set Season 4.  
**Author's Note:** Rhonda. You were right.

"Tell me again why we are here and what we are doing."

"We are in my kitchen, Toby, because we are going to make cakes. We are going to make cakes because it doesn't hurt for the people who think they know us so well, to have their assumptions challenged once in a while. We are going to surprise them, Toby. We are going to surprise ourselves."

"I think 'surprised' is the least they're going to feel, CJ. Try 'hysterical'. Try 'bewildered'. Try 'suspicious'. And I don't want to surprise myself. I know myself and I don't like being surprised. And I don't want to surprise you. You get unpredictable and then I get edgy.."

"Well, think of this as an investment in the future then."

Toby leaned against the breakfast bar, noting the grocery bags heaped against the cupboard and CJ's virgin cooking utensils gleaming on the work top.

"How is this an investment in the future?"

CJ finished checking off her list and turned to look at her friend.

"Toby, you are going to have to do stuff with your kids, you know. Fun stuff. And cooking counts as fun stuff for kids. They grow out of it, but while they're too little to know better, this counts as fun."

"CJ, they are unborn. And then it'll take years before they can eat anything but goo let alone beat an egg. And you are the one to teach me because..?"

"I'm the one to teach you, .. hey, 'beat an egg', see you're not a total novice... because I need to learn too. I mean I may not have kids, but you're gonna want a baby sitter sometimes, aren't you? And I'm gonna have to have some tricks up my sleeve. Beside it'll be good for us to talk about something other than politics and do something outside work that doesn't include alcohol and fighting."

Toby sighed and stared up at CJ. 'So we'll talk about cakes then. OK. Where's the instruction manual?"

****************

In an hour and a half they had managed to produce 24 chocolate cup cakes. There was a warm smell of baking and a not inconsiderable air of achievement in the small kitchen. There was also quite a bit of mess. Things had been going well until Toby had sneezed in the flour and had looked up to see CJ sniggering at his whitened, dusty face. She stopped laughing when he tipped what was left in the bag over her head. They had called a truce when there threatened to be more cake mixture on the floor than in the bowl and were currently peaceably smoothing a layer of chocolate icing on each little cake. Toby had proved to be a dab hand at decorating and CJ had tried to keep up. She was glad it was over though.

"Are we gonna take them in tomorrow, then? Show everyone what we're made of? ..What?"

Toby was looking at her and grinning all over his face. She had a long streak of flour running across her forehead and a blob of chocolate icing on her cheek.

He stood up and moved towards her, still smiling. She started to grin but her laugh turned to a gasp as he quickly leant forward and licked the chocolate off her face.

He looked intently at her startled face and moved closer. With a sudden flick of his finger he smeared more icing on to her bottom lip and tipped his head to suck it off.

She only spoke when he started to move down her body. "You're not gonna find chocolate down there, Toby"

"Ah, but I think it's only right that I look, don't you?"

*******  
They lay side by side on the bed, palms clasped together and their bodies sticky. Toby had insisted on dabbing cake mixture on every part of CJ as he had undressed her. CJ had run her fingers round the mixing bowl and then run her fingers round Toby. There had been a lot of licking and sucking, followed by moaning and sighing.

"I told you we were gonna have fun."

"I'm not doing that with my kids though." He turned and sucked her ear lobe into his mouth. "Missed a bit".

"Toby.."

"Mmm?"

"You've made cakes before haven't you? Where did you learn?"

He looked at her. "I thought you knew I was brought up on...."

She shut him up with a kiss.

The end.  
The Proof of the Pudding

"CJ taught me how to bake", Toby muttered as Ginger peered into the tin at the evidence. He knew this was a bad idea. He'd said so many, many times on the way in to work but had been ignored. "It's an investment in the, uh, future".   
Ginger tried to keep a straight face but when she heard a Bonnie flavoured snort over her shoulder, she let it all out.  
"You gonna go into the catering business, Toby? Cos I have to tell you that you're gonna need to practice.." The tears ran down her cheeks as she stopped even trying not to laugh.

"No - it's for my kids... For God's sake stop laughing. This is what I meant by hysterical!" He grabbed the tin and marched towards CJ's office, determined to bury the evidence and call off the whole humiliating exercise.

"I'm never listening to you again.."

"I wasn't aware you did normally. Why, what's happened now?" CJ walked past him and quietly closed the door behind him.

"It's the cakes. Ginger and Bonnie are, as we speak, sullying my good reputation around here. They mocked, CJ, they mocked. And it's all your fault."

"Hey, we had fun didn't we?" CJ blew gently into Toby's ear as she leant against him. "We only got a little distracted and that was right at the end; it didn't affect the quality of the cooking."

"No-one's even got round to checking the quality - they're too busy laughing at my expense. What's more, I don't hear your name being mentioned in the same way. Why aren't they laughing at you?"

"Because, my friend, they are scared of me and you ceased being scary some time ago. You have become what is considered as eccentric. This falls easily into the 'eccentric' category. Why do you think I pulled this stunt in the first place?"

The door flew open and Josh crashed into the room, "CJ, you did it - I can't believe... oh Toby. Er.. I can't believe .. I can't believe, now what was it that I couldn't believe that made me come in here and YES! What a beautiful day it is.."

"Josh you are going to tell me what you came in here to say to CJ or I'm gonna take this tin... Wait a minute. Money wouldn't be about to exchange hands would it?" 

Toby looked at Josh's guilty face and then reproachfully at CJ. He took the tin from her and walked towards the door. "I'll be in my office until further notice. Don't worry about dinner, I have my supplies."

CJ slumped down in her chair. "Do you think we've hurt his feelings?"

"Of course we haven't. And what do you care anyway? You've cleaned up enough to buy cakes for everyone for the next month. I gotta go. Don't worry about Toby, he's used to humiliation at your hands. He'll recover."

***

Toby slunk back to his office, shut the door firmly behind him and dialled Ginger's number, "No calls. No visitors. I'll be leaving in an hour."

He felt bad and it wasn't just the cake thing. It wasn't even that everybody had placed bets on him looking stupid. It was just...... He sighed and put his head in his hands. It was just that it was CJ. It was obvious to him that he would do just about anything for her, but he hadn't realised that it was obvious to everyone else too. And even if it hadn't been, it sure was now. He didn't like his weakness put on view to the world and money made and lost on it.  
Toby opened the tin and took out a cake. In all the excitement yesterday, the cooking, the mess and the sex, he hadn't even tasted what they'd made. He bit into it.  
Wow. Amazing. Best he'd ever had. All applied to the cup cake and all applied to CJ. There was no way he was going to let her go. He was going to have to punish her a little, but then....

***

CJ sat totally still. Yes, she had set up this stupid bet and, yes, she had succeeded beyond her wildest dreams in making Toby a laughing stock. This was the game they all played - relieving the tension of the job by outwitting the others - and she was the acknowledged queen. No-one else could get Toby to do the crazy things that she could and she loved him for it. Wait! She did love him for it.. and not only for that, but for the things he could do with his hands and especially the thing he could do with his tongue. She whimpered. God, she needed to make sure that he was gonna do that again... she needed to make sure that she hadn't driven him away.

He wasn't answering his phone. She ran out of the room towards his office.

"It's no good, CJ, he's not there. He left a while ago, clutching his cake tin. I honestly haven't laughed as much in years. You are a genius.."

"Look, Ginger, there's something I need to do. Will you let Carol know that I'm going? There's nothing that can't wait 'til tomorrow, she can leave as soon as she's ready.."

"Aren't you going to the bar with the others? Josh has told everyone that you're buying?"

"Nope \- gotta find Toby.." and she was out of the door.

***

Toby wasn't at his apartment. She didn't know where he was, but she did know what she was going to do next. She just had to go shopping and then have a somewhat delicate conversation with Leo.

***

Toby had just spent a fruitful, if embarrassing, hour with the First Lady and had stopped at Leo's office to check out before going home. He finished his own delicate conversation with Leo and was on his way out as fast as he possibly could when his cell phone rang.

"Yes, Leo?"

"What do you mean she's stuck..." he sighed. "Yes, I have a key, but so does Josh. Why can't he run to her rescue... she really is the last person on this earth I need to see now. No. I understand. It has to be me because I haven't really suffered enough at her hands today.......Yeah, yeah. I'm going." He got in the car. This wasn't part of his plan, but he'd get as much mileage out of it as he could.

When Toby stepped out of the elevator he knew instantly that something wasn't quite right. Too quiet. No six foot madwoman locked out of her apartment and made to wait as Toby had stuck strictly to the speed limit while driving to her rescue. He had managed to add at least twenty minutes to the usual journey time. He'd expected her to be incandescent at the delay. He peered along the hall. No - she wasn't hiding \- at least not in the usual places. He flushed at the memory of at least two occasions when she had ambushed him. It really was too quiet.  
He reached the door and found it partially open. Now he started to worry,  
"CJ?... CJ?" he called, his voice getting louder as he peered into the dark apartment.

As his eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, Toby spotted something sparkling on the hardwood floor. He bent over and saw individual Godiva chocolates arranged in the shape of an arrow pointing to the bathroom. He pushed the door shut softly and padded silently in the direction of the door retrieving the chocolates as he went. A gentle humming could be heard from the bathroom. He cleared his throat.

"You took your time getting here, Ziegler. I could have set hard and then you would have had to chisel me out...."

Toby gasped. The woman, whom he now decided was the love of his life, could be seen lying in her extra long tub, covered in melted chocolate from the chin down. His face lit up at the sight of her warm smile and he grinned at her in return. He unwrapped one of the gold covered parcels and put it between his teeth, slowly bending down until his face was almost touching hers. Resting the chocolate on his tongue, he teased her mouth open and transferred it to hers, sucking gently as he did so.

"Now you suck on that while I clean the rest of you....."

CJ sighed and leaned back. She was in heaven and she was never gonna let him go. 

"If you think I'm a mess, just wait til you see the state of my kitchen.."

***

"CJ, you're due in the First Lady's office in five minutes". Carol caught up with her boss as she strode into her office. "Don't ask me what it's about, I only just found out myself".

"Okay, I'm on my way. Is Toby in yet?"

"He's with Josh. They'll join you in a minute"

CJ turned. "Are they in the meeting too? Fine. Hope they know more than I do"

CJ was exhausted from the night before and more than a little euphoric. God, Toby was amazing. It was all she could do to stop grinning as she waited for Abigail Bartlet to call her in.

"CJ. You're looking very satisfied with yourself. Anything I should know about?"

"No, Ma'am, I....." CJ flushed, she'd been caught off guard and not only that, but by the one person in the White House who could play the game better than her. The door swung open.

"Ah, Toby, Josh. Thanks for coming at such short notice."

CJ glanced up at the latecomers. Josh looked as bewildered as she felt, but there was something suspiciously serene about Toby's expression that had nothing to do with last night's feast. For a man not known for his bonhomie and goodwill to others, he was looking almost, almost....Her train of thought was broken by Abbey's voice and she realised she had missed almost all of what had been said.

"I was saying, Claudia Jean, that Sam will be back in DC for the weekend and Jed wants to host a little social evening for him. Nothing too formal, just the usual people. The good news is that I have used my considerable powers of persuasion to convince Jed that another Chilli evening would be too much of a good thing."

Josh couldn't stop himself from smirking and CJ chuckled.

"The not quite so good news is that he is now persuaded that the Senior Staff should take their turn in providing the food."

CJ looked aghast. She could have sworn that Toby squeaked, but he appeared as glum as usual, his hands pressed together as though in prayer. Josh had a look of wild eyed desperation on his face. She could tell that he was working out how he could coerce Donna into taking his turn for him.

Silence.

Abbey turned and said in her sweetest and most reasonable voice, "CJ, as I understand that you have been spending some time educating your colleagues in the art of Haute Cuisine, Jed has decided that you are going to go first. All we need is a three course meal prepared by your own fair hand. The menu is completely up to you. The only condition is that you are not allowed to call in the experts.  
That's all. See you Saturday".

Toby and Josh were out of the door as fast as they possibly could, leaving CJ trailing pathetically behind.

  
No-one had seen the Press secretary quite as subdued before. She got through the day, but not in her usual sunny and efficient fashion. Of course the many comments thrown her way about lobster and soufflé and meringue only served to deepen the slightly hunted look on her face. Toby was really beginning to enjoy himself. In fact, he had remained nobly tight-lipped about her predicament, while Josh and even Leo had joined the others in CJ's culinary torture.

***  
CJ sat on her couch with her head in her hands. Her kitchen was stuffed with bags and her refrigerator even more stuffed with items that she would be pushed to recognize without a label. She had spent the last hour compiling a detailed schedule of preparation and sticking it in order on every available surface. She had done everything she possibly could without actually starting to cook and now she wanted to cry.

Her head turned at the sound of knocking.

"Go away, whoever you are"

"CJ, it's me. Let me in.."

"Toby?" .. " She ran to the door and opened it a crack. "If you've come to laugh or gloat you can turn around right now."

"CJ, let me in. I promise not to make you mad."

The door swung open and his heart melted at the worry on her face. He couldn't stop himself. His arms went straight round her waist to pull her to him and he kissed her gently on the lips.

" I've come to help. Let me help. Please? I can hardly be called an expert..." He took her hand and pulled her further into the apartment, noting the bags and the sheets of paper crammed with her handwriting stuck on the walls.

"Oh Toby, what am I gonna do?"

He looked hard at her. "We're a good team, you and me. We can do this.." He dragged his eyes away from her face and looked down at the floor. "You.. uh .. you know that I'd do anything for you, don't you? And I only torture you because I love you..?"

"You love me?" A beautiful smile lit her face. " I lo.." She stopped, sudden understanding striking her dumb, and stepped back. "WAIT! What do you mean? Toby, this better be good...."

"Well, who do you think came up with an alternative to 'Chilli Hell'?"

"You.. and Abbey!"

He smirked, "And Leo added his two cents too".

CJ sank back down onto the couch. "My humiliation is nearly complete - we just have the meal to get through - and no doubt certain members of the press have been alerted to the identity of the chef...." She sighed. "I suppose I deserve this. I mean I have made a small fortune out of embarrassing you. And Toby Ziegler always plays to win". She looked up at him and saw soft affection in his eyes.

"You know.... I only torture you because I love you too...."

"You do?" His smile was the most stunning thing she had seen. The words were out of her mouth before she could think,

"You know, if you moved in here, we could have a feast every day......" 

He sat down next to her and ran his fingers over her cheek to the back of her neck, bringing their mouths within kissing distance.

"They say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating," he murmured. " And I don't know about you, but I'm starving.."

***

The car was packed. They were ready to go. CJ's detailed preparation had paid off and the afternoon had gone smoothly. She and Toby were a great team in the kitchen, she decided. And in the bedroom. Their friends were in for a surprise... or two.

The End  



End file.
